Whatsahappeninghotstuff?

movies.

When I left for College, my parents purchased a video camera for me. 14 years later, I have about 15 tapes. My dad and I are putting them onto dvd this weekend. Oh, do I have some treasures. I can't wait to put them on facebook and embarass all of my college friends. Jenny Boldt, you are in for a treat.

We're off to see the Wizard...

My little buddy Andrew knows I love the Wizard of Oz. I have been wanting to rent this for the boys for a very long time. I know this movie may have some things going on (witches, wizards) and some people just don't want to expose their kids to this and don't agree with the concept. However, it is a classic, and my kids will get to watch it if they want to. They know that our family believes Jesus is the almighty and nothing can stand against him without shaking...not even flying monkeys. They are also aware of the difference between reality and fiction. Just my 2 cents. I plan to rent the movie next weekend. It should be fun!
Where am I going with this, oh yeah...
The Columbus Children's theatre is putting on the Classic Wizard of Oz for the next couple of weeks. We got something in the mail and Andrew kept showing it to me saying "look mom, you love this movie". Yes, I do. I can recite the entire movie from beginning to end. It was a favorite in our home growing up. So, the little guy is in for a surprise. We are going next week. Just him and I. I asked a cousin and her daughter to go along with us. Hopefully, she will be able to go. I bought 4 tickets total, so if she can't go, I have 2 tickets to share.
There is something very special about Andrew that I have noticed lately. He really thinks of other people and their feelings. When he kept showing me this post card, I knew that he knew that it would be something I would want to go to. I think it was the first time I really felt like one of my kids actually were aware of the things I enjoy in life, and expressed it by telling me that I should go to it.
A couple of weeks ago, he came home and said, "Mom, I played with ___ today at recess". I didn't really think anything of it, but then the name didn't ring a bell. I asked him who this kid was. He said "it is a kid in a wheelchair mom, and I saw that he didn't have anybody to play with so I asked him if he wanted to play tag with me". This child has an electric wheelchair by the way. The next day, he played with him again and actually got more children to play along and they THOUGHT IT WAS COOL. He saw the need, and accommodated to that need.
*smiling*

Rappers delight

Owen shows off his stuff he is learning at Breakdancing class. How does a child go from AEROSMITH to Dr. Dre?

Birthday Bash Rained out, almost.

Note: I am not sure why my pictures do not line up with captions. I have been trying to figure it out, but am giving up.


Yesterday we had our munchkin's 1st birthday celebration. We have had awesome weather all week, until yesterday. All day, the weather radar said that we were going to get some scattered showers starting at 4:00...the starting time of the party. In the morning, we really were not sure what direction to take. Cancel the party? Make it a family party? Have everyone (40 people) over and say heck with it...play in the rain? Well, we decided to "un-invite" people. !gasp! This is what it felt like at least. There was just not room for friends and their families to join us. We wanted everyone, but our house physically cannot hold 40 people. Thank you friends for understanding. We felt horrible doing this. We really had no choice to downsize the party to a family gathering. I did not even think of having a backup plan. It was cozy and we had fun, but I am sure people were happy to get out of our crazy house at 7:00. I know I would have been if I were in their shoes. Besides being too close for comfort at times, I was a bit bummed I couldn't do the activities I had planned...including video recording 15 seconds of each person doing their special robot dance, which later was going to be all put together for a video.

Early yesterday morning, I knew Elliott was coming down with something. Any momma and daddy knows when their kids are getting sick. For me, I notice it in the eyes. His were droopy and puffy. As the day progressed, he started showing more physical signs of not feeling well, including being a very grumpy birthday boy. Hey, it's his party and he can CRY IF HE WANTS TO...right? Here is the droopy eyed birthday boy..

One of the activities we managed to do was making Robots out of baby formula cans.

I had a winning category for every child (best use of pipe cleaners, craziest, Most hungry looking), because I don't like competition with fun stuff like this. I personally am not a big fan of competition in general, especially when it comes to competing with family members over something like best robot heads. It is funny, because a few of the kids really needed to know which one was the VERY best. Sorry guys, everyone's robot was special in their own way!

My friend Cindy made her cookies again. Loved, loved, loved them. I am always amazed at her work. She does a fabulous job. Thanks Cindy!

Elliott not wanting anything to do with the cake...wanting everything to do with watching his brother and cousin play tetherball...



He did not like touching the cake,so the solution was to eat it this way...


Not really knowing what to do with this (it was ok, there were plenty of kids opening the presents for him).

Elliotts birthday celebraton prep

Well, I have a 6 foot robot by our door wall and it freaks me out every time I walk by it. We had to bring him in because it is going to rain in the morning. Yikes. It is supposed to rain on and off all day tomorrow. Our house just isn't big enough to hold the party inside. If the weathermen are right, we will be moving the party to next weekend. Bummer. The final decision will be made tomorrow, late morning. I possibly have to keep this robot for another week. He will be guarding our food to make sure nobody double dips or takes seconds before everyone is served. Aaron made fun of Mr. Roboto all day today.



In other news, Andrew almost broke his arm at the skate park today. It is bound to happen sooner or later, right? He also wanted me to create a mugshot of him this evening. I can't find it on my computer though, darn it.


Owen had break dancing class on Wednesday. He liked it and I loved it!

Elliott likes to do this when he is in his pack and play on the porch...

Cracks me up.

And me...I can't sleep and I have tumor thingy on my achilles tendon that hurts like a tumor on an achilles tendon. I am not sure why the heck I have it because the cause of this is due to participating in Athletics. ba-hahahahahah.

As for Aaron, he is getting up at 3:00 am to smoke the pork for the party that might not happen. At least we will have dinner for tomorrow. If we cancel, we plan to freeze the pulled pork and still serve it next week.

My friend the Pie Hero.

We had our last gathering at our house for Bible study last night. We decided to make it a Mexican Potluck. I made yummy enchiladas (recipe found on the back of the old el paso Green sauce stuff). Our small group leader's wife makes the most amazing pies you have ever had. I am not kidding. The first time I had one, she made a blackberry pie. Yesterday she made a peach-blackberry pie. This was the masterpiece.


While thoroughly enjoying the pie on our back porch last night, her 5 year old daughter said with the biggest grin "My Mom is the PIE HERO!" Yes, indeed she is.

I actually asked her that I would pay her big bucks to make a couple of Pies for Elliott's birthday on Sunday. Unfortunately, her week is packed and she is unable to do it. I will be ok.

(This morning, as I was taking a picture of the pie I was about to devour, the boys said "Mom, why oh why are you taking a picture of a pie". I replied "It is too good not to take a picture of guys".

Getting in the Groove...

We are in the groove of things. Finally. I love this time of year because our schedules are back to normal and we pretty much can anticipate what will be next. I also get to eat Chili and Tomato soup again. We are keeping our schedules pretty simple this fall. The boys are in opposite activities on separate days which makes things so much easier. Last year, we were going separate ways taking one to soccer practice, another to a soccer game...Chaos. We told ourselves that we will do everything we can to avoid this in the future. So far, so good.

We are finding our kids niches. Andrew doesn't really like physical team sports. He is more of a single sport kind of guy. He enjoyed baseball and REALLY loves Skateboarding. He learns so much at skateboarding lessons/instruction. Aaron takes him on Saturday mornings because this momma would have a heart attack if I watched him. I found out that he can now launch off the ramps from the top and go to the other side and land on the platform (I don't know skateboard talk, so I am explaining this to the best of my ability). He was jumping curbs the other day. yikes.
Andrew's most recent picture...


Andrew has also shown an interest in Guitar. This year was his big year for a birthday party. In the beginning of the year, he wanted us to rent out the skating rink for his party. That usually is their gift from us...their big party. Since then, he has decided that he no longer wants a party and wants us to put the money that we would have spent on the party toward a guitar, amp and lessons. Hey, not a bad idea. So, we went looking for guitars the other day. Ummm. We know absolutely nothing about guitars, so it kind of is a challenge for us.

In Owen's world, he loves physical contact sports. The more contact, the better. He is currently playing soccer and LOVES it. He scored 5 goals the other day at his first game. This usually happens to Owen on his first game. The goals usually level out as the season progresses.

His age group went to big goals which means a little goalie with alot of room on each side of him. Owen was pretty stoked about this change, but doesn't want to be goalie. hmmm. Interesting. After his first goal, Andrew heard him say "piece of cake". Owen denies that he said it. I really love watching them play. The main group of kids have played since they were 4 years old. Owen joined the team when he turned 5. I do have to say, that the kid does have a natural ability for sports. He always has. Owen is also enrolled in BREAK DANCING class! Yes, you heard that right. He is very excited about it. I cant wait to see a head spin. Videos to come soon!
Owen's most recent picture...


Elliott is the most curious baby I have had thus far (this is by no means an indication that we are having more). He is spicy with an extra dash of pepper flakes. He is everywhere, always exploring and getting into things. He also has a little of his Grandpa McCullough's Irish temper. He isn't enrolled in Break dancing class yet, but give us time. He is getting his molars in and we have had some interesting nights lately. His first birthday is tomorrow. I am sure I will post some sappy post about him. I am busy organizing his Robot Birthday party, but trying not to be excessive, trying. I found a new blog that I kind of excited about. This lady and I could get dangerous together. Visit her blog...Her ideas are fabulous and I plan to hijack a few of them for Elliott's party. I did contact a church in our area that did the theme "gadgets and gears" vacation bible school. My kids went there and I remembered they had a 6 foot ROBOT for a decoration. Well, I contacted a friend that goes there and MR. ROBOT WILL BE AT THE PARTY! Yippeee. He will be overseeing the food table. That is about excessive as I will get with his party. Promise. Aaron is excited because I am letting him smoke 25 pounds of Pulled pork. Call me crazy, but this is a celebration right??
Elliott's most recent picture, just today.

Oh, we are playing a video at the birthday party. It will be playing on our computer screen and people can stop and watch if they want. I am in need of 1 more song. My friend Jenny introduced me to Renee and Jeremy and I am using 2 songs of theirs. I need another song...similar style. Any thoughts?

Totally wish I was related to this cutie

Shirts Printed and ready!

We're gearing up for Elliott's Birthday Party next weekend. Here is the cute iron on that I printed for his shirt.

Andrew and Owen have shirts also. Yes, we are party nerds.

The winner is...

My goofball dad!

Thanks for voting on the sock puppet contest. Old Blue takes the title! Your trophy is coming soon dad!

Just for fun...Cast your vote now!

Someone very dear to me made sock puppets with his grandchild and his daughter. They are very competitive with this whole thing. Can you please place your vote on the side panel for the sock puppet you think is the best? Here are the videos of the puppets...Feel free to leave comments, but please cast your vote on the side for them to count. I plan to get the winner a trophy for their outstanding craftsmanship and creativity.

Puppet Number 1....


Puppet Number 2...


Puppet Number 3...

Visitors

This weekend we had visitors! My niece Theresa and her beau Chris came from Michigan to see the Crawfords. Warning, this post is packed with excessive pictures and videos... Excuse the grammatical errors, it has been a long weekend.

On Saturday, Theresa and Chris arrived in the late morning. Aaron won tickets to the Ohio State game, so he took Andrew to watch the Bucks at the Horseshoe. Chris is a big Michigan State fan. Earlier in the week, we looked at the game schedule and found out that "his" game was only going to be aired on the Big Ten network. We don't have the Big Ten network. Big problem. Being the nice person that I am, I ordered the Big Ten network (temporally, however, Aaron would love if we kept it) so he can watch the game. Big brownie points. He had told Theresa that he would drive separately if he couldn't watch the game (At least that was Theresa's version of the story *wink*).

Saturday evening, we headed downtown to the Greek festival. Chris wore his Michigan State shirt and had a couple of people comment on it. Go figure...everybody is a Buckeye fan here. Anyway, I wish I had a Greek persons skin tone. I felt like Casper the friendly Polish ghost among all of those Olive skinned beauties. I don't think I like Greek food though. I had a gyro, but my palette was saying "no" the entire time. Maybe it was because a lamb was being roasted on a stick right next to the gyro booth? Just maybe. It was CRAZY there. We had to take Elliott and his stroller, so that made for an even more interesting night. It was fun to listen to the music, but we couldn't watch the dancers because it was so CRAZY. We bought some pretty darn good Baklava though.

Sunday was a major cooking extravaganza. Aaron originally wanted to get his smoker out and I PUT MY FOOT DOWN! Then, he pouted. I couldn't say no. His pouting gets me everytime. He started smoking his meat around 7:00 a.m.. The plans were to play some poker with "a few guys" at night. "A few guys" slowly turned into a party so to say. We had about 18 people here by the end of the night and I loved it. We realized that smoking meat creates ALOT of food, so in order for us not to eat smoked meat for a week, we HAD to invite some people over...Right? This is what energizes me I guess. Aaron wanted to try Smoking Pork butt (that is ironically located on the shoulder of the pig) to give it a test run for Elliott's birthday bash in a couple of weeks.

For my contribution, I made some Chocolate Stout Cake. You can find the recipe here on my "good intentions" food blog. I am planning on starting it up again this week. And guess what? I didn't freak out this time (and...no anxiety medication needed! lol). What did I do differently you ask? I stayed the heck out of the kitchen. Good move for me. Note to self, that worked.

In the afternoon, Chris and Theresa made sushi. I have NEVER tried sushi and was a bit hesitant. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I actually enjoyed it. Aaron brought out his Sake from one of his visits to Japan. In order for us to remember how to prepare sushi, I made Chis explain the process to me. He is a funny guy. Aaron really liked him. Theresa better keep him or we will be mad at her.


This is the scene that ended the night. Smelly cigars, giggly men and a beautiful night.

Now our company is gone. We are lonesome here. We don't hear Theresa's giggles or Aaron teasing her. We miss them. Please come back :(